By Martha Agas

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, says Africa must rewrite its history powered by its minerals for its local development.

Alake, also the Chairman of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), said this at the opening of the fourth edition of the Africans Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS) on Wednesday in Abuja.

The summit, holding from Wednesday to Friday, is themed “Harnessing Local Content for Sustainable Development”.

He said that the summit was not just for exchanging ideas but to explore opportunities where Africa can benefit from sustained wealth.

According to him, Africa seeks to build a future where its natural wealth is no longer a statistic in someone else’s report.

“We aspire to a continent where its natural wealth serves as a driving force for industrial growth, equity, and sustainable development.

“In line with the aspirations of Agenda 2063, this gathering marks a decisive step towards a development model anchored on our priorities.”

The minister noted that Africa natural resources held immense potential for meeting sustainable development goals, but must adopt policies such as value addition of its minerals to achieve the feat.

“Local content requires Africa to shift away from exporting raw materials and instead build factories, refine minerals, generate power locally, and create jobs.

“We should be building green industrial zones where gas becomes fertiliser, limestone becomes cement, and lithium becomes battery storage.

“The Dangote industrial complexes in Nigeria already demonstrated what is possible when we prioritise local content and integrate value chains. Let us establish more of such investments across Africa, not just in one city or country, but in every region,” he said.

Alake emphasised that for Africa to achieve sustainable development, it must rely on its own capital and ownership, hence Nigeria’s establishment of the Solid Minerals Development Fund.

According to him, the fund will support small-scale miners, build critical infrastructure, and mitigate investment risk in exploration and processing.

He added that one of the major highlights of 2025 AFNIS would be the formal unveiling of the ‘Africans for Africa Fund’, a bold initiative designed to mobilise African capital for African priorities.

“The launch of the Africans for Africa Fund under AFNIS further reinforces this agenda. We want to see our pension funds, banks, and sovereign funds investing in our extractive future.

“When Africans own the value chain, the benefits multiply. Let this summit be the place where bold commitments are made, and where value addition becomes a shared continental goal,” he further said.

Earlier in his remarks, Hassan Joho, Kenya’s Minister for Mining, Blue Economy, Shipping and Maritime Affairs, said that Africa must take decisive steps to add value to its minerals.

Joho said this would be achieved by engaging in meaningful conversations about Africa’s future using the summit’s platform, adding that Kenya remained committed to implementing value chain extraction.

Similarly, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said that as global trends shift toward decentralisation, digitisation, and decarbonisation, Nigeria was working to ensure that local content was beyond a policy slogan.

Adelabu added that the Federal Government was determined to ensure that local content becomes a measurable lever for economic growth, industrial capacity, and energy security.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ministers of mining from Rwanda, Liberia, Kenya and international delegates from Germany, Australia and UK, among others also presented goodwill messages. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Deborah Coker